The Way of Dodgy - interview with Math Priest for Lights Go Out

THEY may have recently been described by the NME as “the Chuckle Brothers of Britpop” (a compliment any day in my book), but reformed 90s pop warriors Dodgy were always far more than three cheeky chappies up for a giggle on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. For a start, they have their own philosophy - the Way of Dodgy; at least one commandment on every recording; now numbering in their 30s. They have a pale ale named after them. And a beer. Beat that, Chuckle Brothers.

On top of all that, Dodgy care. A lot. They care about their fans; they care greatly about the music (new album Stand Upright In A Cool Place, out now!), and they care about the way it is presented to their fans in its myriad forms. Let us worship at their feet and allow drummer Math Priest to tell us more...

LightsGoOut: Who does your artwork, and where did you find them?

Math Priest: A psychedelic warrior called Russell Hardman (www.growabrain.co.uk). Like most things to do with this album, we started working together in quite an organic way. Besides being a cosmic pioneer, he's also an art teacher, and he used to teach the daughter of a great friend of ours, Robin Evans, who helped produce the album.

Russell was a big fan of ours when he was a kid and I think we helped form his psychedelic mind, if you know what I mean ,*wink*.

My brother was the designer for the band back in the 90s and Russell is a massive fan of his work. so we made sure that my bro was on hand for inspiration and approval 

LGO: How much input into the look and feel of Dodgy’s artwork do you have as band members?

MP: Well, everything has to be approved by all of us, which can be a shitty process for the artist as two of us could like something, and then it gets rejected by the third member.

It happened with the cover for Stand Upright In A Cool Place. Russell had designed this really unique-looking sleeve with a penguin on the front and we all approved it, but then Nigel [Clark, singer] changed his mind a few weeks later. This quite understandably infuriated Russell, but Nigel was right to question it as Russell came back with an even better sleeve. I'd even go so far as to say it's an absolute classic album sleeve. One of the greats.

LGO: Nowadays have you got more control over artwork and suchlike than you did back in the 90s when you were on a major label, or did you always have an input? 

MP: We've always had final say on the artwork but as my brother, who was a highly regarded designer back then, was doing the design, we kinda trusted him. He'd known the band from the beginning and totally understood our ethos and where we were coming from. In fact, his ideas and designs were integral to the whole image and vibe of the band.

Within the band, Andy [Miller, guitarist] is very artistic, he has a good eye. And quite an attractive forearm. 

LGO: Which are your fave album and single covers from your catalogue?

MP: My fave album cover has to be this new one, I can stare at it for hours, in fact I have. You can meditate with it. Closely followed by the sleeve to the Ace A's and Killer B's best of; we employed a horticulture school to plant the flowers - it took a bit of planning that one. Sad times, though.

For a single, nothing beats our first-ever sleeve for Summer Fayre/St Lucia back in 1991.

LGO: Your CD booklets have often been quite fun [1994’s Homegrown aptly featured instructions on how to build the perfect spliff] - do you think the CD format is one that works well with good artwork, or do you prefer good old vinyl-size covers?

MP: Of course nothing beats an old LP sleeve but the trick with CDs was about being creative with the restrictions. I like discovering new things every time you pick up the CD.

LGO: Tell us about the Way of Dodgy.

MP: My brother was always a spiritual soul, always trying to find some kind of inner-peace, though he did used to search for it in the strangest places :-)

The Ways of Dodgy appeared on every release since the single Water Under The Bridge in 1993 and were started by him really, so he could dispense some of his little aphorisms. Some made you think, some were just plain silly. We used to chip in with quite a few, my favourites were:

The Way of Dodgy No. 2: The only thing that you should worship, is the ground you walk upon

The Way of Dodgy No. 18a: The only nation you should have pride in is your imagination

LGO: Seeing as you’re appearing in the hallowed pages of LightsGoOut... are you a little bit punk?

MP: Absolutely, Nige was a punk. That's how we bonded in the early days - I would introduce him to lots of soul like Sly and The Family Stone and he would introduce me to The Clash and the Ruts. I had to draw the line on some of the stuff he liked as I felt you kinda had to be there, like Crass, Subhumans etc. But that mistrust of authority that Nige got from punk has certainly permeated everything Dodgy has done.

As for a modern punk band, I fucking love Cerebral Ballzy. Are they punk? [I dunno... Mr T, are they punk?]

Catriona Reeves

• First published in Lights Go Out issue 17, June 2012. To buy a real papery copy and for loads more punk zine fun, visit www.lightsgoout.co.uk

Stevie Nicks - guilty pleasure? Pfff.

WHILE I am far too loud and proud about my love of Fleetwood Mac for it to be truly counted as a ‘guilty pleasure’, I fear that my lifelong obsession with singer Stevie Nicks does rather fit the bill owing the love-hate nature of my relationship with her (one of which she is, of course, entirely unaware).

Nicks appeals to the fairy princess in all women. Even past 60. she’s like a timeless sorceress. I’m sure that’s got more to do with good cosmetic surgery than actual witchcraft, but nevertheless, she looks damn fine, even if she can no longer hit the highest notes (septum damage from years of cocaine use may have something to do with that). I believe it should be a right of passage for all teenage girls to want to be Stevie Nicks. I certainly did. It’s a natural progression from wanting to be Barbie. Or, in my case, Sindy. It’s a combination of the floaty stage outfits and the elemental, mysterious sounding song titles (Dreams, Sisters of the Moon, Gypsy, and of course, Rhiannon, named after a mythical Welsh witch).

On the other hand, there are all those rather silly life decisions Nicks appears to have made (marry your best friend’s widower; swop a hardcore coke addition for an even heavier one to prescription tranquillisers - see the video to Big Love for the consequences; and, most heinously of all, dumping the godlike Lindsey Buckingham just because he achieves the impossible and manages to be even more narcissistic than you). This is is a clearly a woman who needs drama in her life, and if it’s not happening naturally, she’ll create it. As she sings in Storms: “Never have I been a blue calm sea; I have always been a storm.”

She may be a strong character, but Nicks doesn’t do much for the feminist cause. It’s quite clear from her lyrics that she falls far to heavily for virtually every man who shows a passing interest in her (think there’s been a few of those), and in Beautiful Child sets the cause of womankind back a fair few years by not only suggesting that she is “too trusting, yes... but then women usually are”, but also that from now on “I will do as I am told”. Grrr.

But in her wonderfully wibbly way, NIcks reflects the innate madness in every woman, and we should applaud her for that. She appears to have no qualms about wearing her heart on her sleeve in her lyrics, even if it might make her look a teensy bit silly (who else would describe drummer Mick Fleetwood, a man who looks like he has been smashed in the face with a spade, as a “Beautiful Child”, as she allegedly does in her song of the same name? No wonder he dumped Nicks for her presumably more sane friend Sara. Guess what Nicks did to get over him...? Yes, she wrote a song about it. Called Sara. Bet that really helped smooth things over between the three of them.

It’s totally apt that the among Nicks’ most high profile devotees is Lindsay Lohan, herself not the most stable of young women. Lohan has not only covered Nicks’ revenge-on-guitarists-everywhere Edge of Seventeen during her short-lived pop career, but apparently wants to buy the rights to her life and play her in a biopic. In response to which, Nicks has apparently said: “Over my dead body. She [Lohan] needs to stop doing drugs and get a grip.”

Oh yes, this woman has a sense of humour alright. That’s clear from the name of her official website, The Nicks Fix. Former drug habit... fix... getit? Stevie Nicks, loving you goes against all rational thought, yet love you I do. You are indeed my guilty pleasure.

• This article was first written for Issue 7 of the fabulous Lights Go Out punk fanzine in April 2010. I did write it, though.

For more guilty pleasures, plus interviews with The Arteries, Tony Sly from No Use For A Name, Joey Cape from Lagwagon, Hearts Under Fire, The Dangerous Summer, Manda Rin from bis and I.C.H. (nope, I don't know who they are either), plus CD and gig reviews and columns, get your copy for £1 (plus 50p for postage) from

http://www.lightsgoout.co.uk/

Do it! Do it now!